Fading content in and out

Lightact’s Layer Layout system can be used in a very flexible variety of ways. However, we’ve also integrated functionalities which enable you to create your show in a more traditional way. For example, by fading the content in and out based on layer, sequence or marker times.

In this guide, we’ll go through some of the ways you can do that.

Please note that all of the fade nodes have an Easing input. It specifies which Easing function is used for the fading. Also, in all of the nodes, you can specify the Start and End values for the fading, so they don’t necessarily have to be 0 or 1.

Layer Fade In & Out Nodes

Layer Fade In and Layer Fade Out nodes fade a float variable in and out. For example, the layout below fades the opacity of the Render to canvas node from 0 to 1 in 10 seconds starting from the beginning of the layer.

Similarly, Layer Fade Out node fades a float to its End value in Duration time counting backward from the end of the layer. The layout below, for example, fades the content out in the last 5 seconds of the layer.

If you want to fade the content in at the beginning of the layer and out at the end, you can use both nodes in combination with a Float multiply node.

Fading on Layer Time

What if you wanted to fade the content but not starting at the beginning of the layer, but somewhere in the middle? In this case, you can use Fade on Layer Time node. It has an additional Trigger input, which determines at what point in layer time, the fading will start.

The layout above, for example, will fade the content in 10 seconds starting from the 5th second of the layer.

Fading on Sequence or Marker Time

What if you wanted to fade the content based on sequence time rather than the layer time. In this case, you can use Fade on Sequence Time node.

The layout above will fade the content in 10 seconds starting from the 5th second of Sequence time.

This node is particularly useful in combination with Markers. For example, if you want to start fading on a particular marker you can use Marker properties node in combination with Fade on sequence time node as shown below.

Don’t forget to select the Parent marker in the properties of Marker properties node.